


Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On

by SophieAyase



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 07:12:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14491605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SophieAyase/pseuds/SophieAyase
Summary: Max falls into a familiar nightmare, but this time, she's about to get the answers to some longstanding questions.





	Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On

> _Hi Max. Rachel Amber here. Just wanted to introduce myself._  
>  _I'll be seeing you soon. Real soon._  
>  _12/01 5:21 am_

Max moaned. So she was back in this nightmare… She didn’t bother checking the other messages. They were practically burned into her brain.

She tried shaking herself awake, like she had as a kid. No good. All she got was some strange looks from her schoolmates. _I could try screaming myself awake_ , she thought. _But even if it is a dream, I’m too embarrassed to do it here…_ She looked up at the restroom door. If the dream was the same as before, it would lead to her dorm… Now, _that_ was an idea.

She crossed the hallway more quickly than she ever had in real life and nearly threw the door open. Sure enough, the dorm hallway stretched out in front of her, and Kate knelt in front of her door. But this time, Max ignored her to enter her own room. She closed the door and opened her mouth to scream.

Then she turned toward her couch, and the scream came out as a strangled, shocked yelp.

The blonde girl sitting there, Max’s guitar across her lap, smiled in greeting. “Hi, Max. Sorry I startled you.”

Max’s jaw opened and shut a couple of times before she managed to form her words. “Rachel Amber?”

Rachel nodded. “It really is nice to meet you, Max. I hope you don’t mind me borrowing your guitar while I waited.”

“I didn’t know you played,” Max replied, still too surprised to say anything else.

Rachel looked bemused. “Neither did I.”

They stayed there, staring awkwardly at each other, for a moment, until Rachel broke the silence. “At the risk of sounding presumptuous, why don’t you have a seat?” she asked, a little sheepishly.

“All right.” Max sat down on the bed to face her, brow furrowed.

Rachel smoothly slid the guitar off herself and back to the floor. “You must have a lot of questions,” she murmured.

_Wowser, that was an understatement._ “Y-yeah,” Max said.

“I know,” Rachel grinned, “how can I be this stunning, right?”

Max chuckled, but felt her cheeks growing a little warm. She _had_ been thinking something along those lines. “This isn’t just a dream, is it?” she asked. Rachel shook her head. “It’s… real, sort of. Even though you’re dead.”

“That didn’t stop you from talking to William,” Rachel said.

Max frowned. “How did you know about that?”

Rachel smiled warmly. “I’ve been watching you for a while, Max. I mean – not in a stalker sort of way,” she added hastily.

“Unlike some people,” Max added darkly.

Rachel nodded. “I knew you could help Chloe,” she said. “And I wanted someone to know the truth about me. About Jefferson.” She shuddered.

Max winced. _Man, I never want to think about that again_ , she thought.

“I don’t like thinking about it either,” Rachel said. “And… I’m sorry, Max. I never thought he would trap you too.”

Max stared at her, startled. “Did you read my mind?”

Rachel grinned back. “Something like that. Look behind you.” She tilted her head toward Max’s string of lights.

Max turned to see them blinking slowly, then turned back to Rachel in awe. “Psychokinesis?” she asked skeptically. “Or is that just part of the dream?”

“Are mind-reading and psychokinesis any harder to believe than rewinding time?” Rachel countered.

“I guess not.” Max sighed. They sat in silence again for a moment. “So did you give me the rewind power?”

Rachel tilted her head back and forth, thinking. “I didn’t give it to you,” she said slowly. “I just … helped you find it.”

“Why?”

This time Rachel actually laughed. “Come on, Max. You can answer this one.” Max frowned. “When did you first use rewind?”

“To… to save Chloe.”

Rachel nodded. “I figured if I couldn’t reach her, you were the next best thing. No offense.”

“You can’t reach her?” Max asked.

Rachel shook her head sadly. “My powers only go so far, Max. You were willing to let me in. Chloe … wasn’t. She still isn’t,” she added in a whisper.

“She’s too angry,” Max said. It was a statement, not a question. Things were starting to make sense, if you could call it that.

“She’s getting better, though,” Rachel said quietly. “I can almost reach her now. Thanks to you, Max.” She smiled, still sadly, but warmly.

“I’m glad,” Max murmured. _But what if –_

“Don’t worry, Max. I won’t get between you. I promise.”

Max felt her eyes getting wet. Rachel really was an angel. If only she’d had the chance to know her. The real her, not whatever this was.

“Max, this _is_ the real me. Just because I’m not around in flesh and blood, doesn’t mean I’m any less real.”

“That’s sort of comforting,” Max said.

Rachel smiled her warm smile again, then abruptly stood up and crossed to sit next to Max. “It’s almost time for you to go,” she said, a little sadly.

“But I’ll see you again, I’m sure,” Max said wryly.

Rachel’s laugh was genuine and affectionate. “Of course, Max. After all, we are such stuff as dreams are made on.”

The lights flickered, and Max felt the room shifting, like it was turning inside-out. “Take this before you go,” Rachel said through the darkness. Max felt something on her wrist as the room turned completely black.

* * *

“Max. Hey, Max. Maxwell. Max Factor. Maximum Ride.”

Max winced at the feeling of being shaken and forced her eyes open. “Good morning to you too, Chloe.”

Chloe sighed in relief. “You scared the shit out of me, Max. You were muttering and turning, but you wouldn’t wake up.”

“Sorry.” Max reached over to run a hand through Chloe’s hair. “I was having this strange dream.”

“You? Strange?” Chloe sniffed in mock skepticism. “Face it, Mad Max, strange things follow you.”

“I’m not the only one,” Max muttered.

“Just don’t scare me like that again, okay?” Chloe continued. “Jesus, Max, I was really worried.” She reached out to catch Max’s hand in hers, then blinked in surprise. She gently lowered Max’s hand back toward the bed, her eyes fixed on Max’s wrist, where her fingers curled around a familiar blue bracelet.

“Where did that come from?” Chloe asked, awed. “Didn’t Frank have it?”

“Huh?” Max looked down to see Rachel’s bracelet on her wrist.

“She … Rachel … _Wowser._ ”


End file.
